Although coffee beans have been cultivated for use in making beverages for a millennium or more, and tea leaves for much longer, there are surprisingly few methods available for producing beverages from such crops. For tea, the conventional brewing methodology involves steeping the leaves in hot water, with or without a separation element, such as a screen or paper filter. For coffee, more techniques are known, but nearly all include a similar mechanical separation means. The only methods of brewing coffee or tea that omit a filter or screen produce a beverage containing gross particulate matter; “Turkish” coffee is an example. Especially for coffee beverages, where avoidance of such gross particulate matter during consumption is nearly impossible, and where such particulate matter is undesirable, one is forced to employ a mechanical separation means, such as discussed above, along with disadvantages attendant thereto. This explains the prevalence of brewing methods utilizing a mechanical separation element of one form or another.
Nevertheless, use of such mechanical separation elements is likewise problematic. Perhaps the most important detriment associated with mechanical separation of particulate matter is the undesirable affect on taste caused by interaction of the separation element with the beverage. This effect is most pronounced with use of paper filters, and is caused both by chemicals in the paper, as well as by absorption by the porous paper of oils and other flavor or aroma-providing compounds and dissolved particles. The alternative, metallic filters, may similarly and adversely affect the taste of the finished beverage, especially when not properly or adequately cleaned. A metallic taste or a stale flavor may be imparted to the beverage by such a filter, and metallic filters may also remove flavorful and/or aromatic compounds from the finished beverage.
Additionally, many forms of mechanical separation, whether paper, metal or another material, involve passage of the brewed beverage through particulate matter collected at the separation element, wherein oils and/or other organic compounds or materials may be absorbed or re-absorbed by the collected particulate matter. An illustrative example is drip brewing, wherein the brewed coffee is filtered by gravity not only through a metal or paper liner of the brewing chamber, but also through the settled coffee grounds. As the oils and other flavorful and/or aromatic compounds or dissolved particles pass through the coffee grounds, re-absorption by the grounds may occur. Moreover, remaining portions that successfully pass through the grounds may then further be altered, absorbed, or trapped, at least in part, by the liner.
As such, it is clear that there is an unmet need for a system and method for brewing beverages that separates unwanted gross particulate matter from the finished beverage, and that, without use of mechanical filtration or separation means, avoids adverse impact on the taste of the beverage and allows oils and other flavor-providing compounds and dissolved particles to remain in the finished beverage.